


This Wild Heart

by CourageousGryffindor



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Real World, Angst, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-04-27 16:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5055310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourageousGryffindor/pseuds/CourageousGryffindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Dearest, your little heart is wounded; think me not cruel because I obey the irresistible law of my strength and weakness; if your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours." -La Fanu, Carmilla</p><p>Laura's world is turned upside down the night she meets Carmilla Karnstein.  Well, maybe not turned upside down so much as gently pushed over the edge into a swirling vortex of the unknown.  Because once Laura finally meets the obnoxious neighbor who has been blasting Joan Jett at all hours of the morning there's no going back.  Carmilla is everywhere and Laura can't shake her.  (Not that she necessarily wants to). But will Carmilla stick around once people start going missing?</p><p>A non-supernatural AU of a modern-day retelling of a silly little gothic novella from 1872.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said that I was going to be posting something everyday. And I know I've been slacking. But I think this monstrosity will help make up for it. 
> 
> Below is the first chapter of a little AU fic that has been growing in my mind for months. It began as a collection of "Imagine Your OTP" prompts that combined into a single fluffy story about two nerds falling in love. Then I figured that it needed a bit more of a plot and a little suspense. And so Laura ended up sticking her nose where it didn't belong - again - and everything got a little bit more angsty. 
> 
> So what I present to you now is the story of two nerds who fall in love while the world around them falls apart. But first: a little business.
> 
> A special thank you to my good friend, Sam. She has encouraged my writing since we first met and was more than willing to beta this first chapter. 
> 
> Chapter Warnings: none so far, unless you really hate Hollence (for which I'm sorry but it's necessary).
> 
> I don't own Carmilla.

Laura tossed aside yet another empty box which landed haphazardly on top of the beaten down couch. There might have been a sense of finality to it, if she didn’t know deep in her soul that she was still far from done, if she ever wanted to actually use her new apartment. On the one hand, she should start breaking down boxes and putting lose ends away and probably making herself something to eat. But on the other hand, this wall seemed like the perfect place for a little catnap. So what if she had to wade through a waterfall of boxes to get to the bathroom, she’d finally finished unpacking and she was going to reap her dreamland rewards, goshdarnit!

Her phone buzzed.

**_Danny [7:45]_ ** _– Please tell me you’re done_

**_Laura [7:46]_ ** _– Just finished. Something in mind? ;)_

**_Danny [7:48]_ ** _– I’m starving_

**_Laura [7:48]_ ** _– ummm……_

**_Danny [7:48]_ ** _– For food you dork. Wanna come sit with me while I eat?_

**_Laura [7:49]_ ** _– As long as I can eat too. I think I forgot about dinner…and lunch_

**_Danny [7:50]_ ** _– LAURA!_

**_Laura [7:51]_ ** _– Yeah, yeah you can lecture me later. Where you want to go?_

**_Danny [7:52]_ ** _–diner?_

**_Laura [7:52]_ ** _– Fine but you’re driving_

**_Danny [7:53]_ ** _– Be there in 15_

Fifteen minutes: just enough time for some shut eye.

Thirteen minutes later, Laura was awoken by the harsh sound of the buzzer. Scrabbling to her feet (miraculously without slipping on any bubble wrap), Laura fumbled through the empty remains of her unpacking endeavor to reach the front door.

“Be right down!” She called into the buzzer’s microphone. Not bothering to wait for a response she grabbed her keys and ran out the door.

Downstairs, Danny was leaning up against the wall of the tattoo parlor that occupied the first floor of the building. “Hey, you ready?”

“Yeah. Thank god you texted, I was starting to go insane. I think I actually had a dream that I was made of cardboard.”

Danny laughed as she leaned down to kiss her girlfriend. “You seem shorter, Hollis.”

Laura pulled away and tried to pull herself to her full height, “No. That is not happening! I am not getting shorter because if anything you’re getting taller which is really just not fair.” Laura paused as she suddenly realized that there was a slight chill at her feet where there shouldn’t be. “Oh, crap.”

“Forgot your shoes again?”

“Yeah. I’ll just run up and get them. Probably under some boxes. Or on top of the fridge or something.”

“I’ll come too! You still haven’t let me see the place since you actually got furniture in.”

Laura looked back over her shoulder, key halfway into the lock, “Umm…yeah it’s still kind of a mess.”

“Oh come on,” Danny laughed, “it can’t be any worse than my place while I was working on my term paper last semester.”

Three minutes later Danny was standing at the entrance of Laura’s new apartment, watching as her tiny girlfriend threw boxes around the room in search of some footwear. “Huh, I guess it could be worse. How in the nine circles f hell do you live like this Laura?”

A head popped out of the kitchen, “I’m…not really sure, actually.” Laura retreated as the sound of boxes being shunted aside resumed. “AHA!”

“You find them?”

“Yup! Turns out I was close when I said they might be on top of the fridge. They were in one of the cabinets.” Laura reappeared in the living room, shoving a pair of worn out Chuck Taylors on her feet while avoiding the large stacks of books and knick knacks that were occupying the space behind the couch. “Though I’m not really sure how they got there.”

“Sometimes it’s best to just let the universe have its mysteries.”

~*~*~*~*~

The Lustig Diner was hidden away on a corner of one of the yuppier neighborhoods of Styria City. It was a classic train car diner complete with neon signs and button-clad wait staff. Settled between an old workhouse-turned-theater-turned-café theater on the one side and an impressive office building on the other, it looked rather unimpressive. Between the sprawling pavements, elaborate pool of water, and chic metallic structure Laura was impressed that Danny had ever found the tiny diner next to this pinnacle of modern design.

The inside was just as impressive as the outside.

“So what can I get you ladies to eat?” Their waitress was nearly as tall as Danny and all legs. Her name tag read _Donna_.

“I’ll have the Chicken Caesar Wrap and you wanted the Classic Burger, right?” Laura nodded as Danny handed back the faded menus.

“Alright, those will be right out.”

And right out they were. What the tiny diner lacked in visual appeal it made up for with its food. Their dinner came out within ten minutes and while it might have just been the fact that she was starving, Laura could swear that this was the most delicious burger that had ever existed.

“Slow down, Laura. I’m really not in the mood to do the Heimlich.”

“But it’s just _so_ good!” Laura choke out, not bothering to swallow.

“Exactly! Don’t you want to savor it or something?”

“So hungry.”

“And whose fault is that?” Danny playfully raised an eyebrow though continued to smile.

Laura downed nearly half the burger in one gulp, “The boxes?” Danny gave her a look. “I got distracted okay. What do you want me to say ‘thanks for being the big brave hero of my stomach’?”

“No, just…try and take _human_ sized bites.”

“Fine! I’ll take it easy.” Reluctantly Laura put what was left of the burger down so that she could slowly work on her fries. She was pleasantly surprised to discover they were equally as delicious. “So, how’d you find this place again?”

“One of my professors decided that the library wasn’t ‘out there’ enough for our American Lit course so he dragged us here for our first class.” Danny was absent-mindedly drawing ketchup designs with her fries. “And then to a park. And the underground. And I’m pretty sure he’s planning on holding class on the roof of one of the big box stores next week.”

Laura sucked down half her Sprite in one go, “I kind of miss all that actually. The spontaneity, the adventure.”

“Undergrad, sure. But you wouldn’t be saying that if you were still in it.”

“I guess,” Laura began, “but it’s not like I got away from all the homework and writing assignments and stuff. Just the ‘living with your friends and being able to hang out in the hallway in your pajamas’ stuff.” She paused, “but I guess I do get to spend more time with you. Now that we’re, you know, actually in the same city.”

Danny gingerly reached across the table and took Laura’s hand as though it would shatter at any moment. “I just wish we had more time to spend together.”

“At least it beats long distance. Now when you’re busy I can still come and bother you. Kind of like old times.”

“Yeah, like old times.” But before Danny could lean across the table and kiss Laura’s cheek, her easily-distracted girlfriend caught sight of a plate of chocolate lava cake being brought to another table and their moment was gone.

~*~*~*~*~

After an order of chocolatey dessert, Danny and Laura returned to the apartment to begin breaking down boxes.

“I don’t really have anything going on tomorrow if you wanted me to stay over. But only if you wanted to, you know.” Danny sat up on her elbows, resting her forehead against Laura’s and trying to catch her breath. Their make out session had been cut short when Laura got a glance at the clock precariously perched on a stack of books.

“Danny, I want to. Tonight’s just…not the night. You know? Besides I have to be at the office by nine.” Laura made to untangle herself from beneath her gargantuan girlfriend. Danny took the hint and sat back. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s totally fine. I get it, Laura. I guess I’m not the only busy one now.” Laura didn’t miss the tingle of disappointment in her voice.

“Hey, maybe I could give you a call after work tomorrow. I don’t really have anything going on except dealing with the rest of these,” she kicked a stray box, “and based on tonight breaking down boxes seems to make for great foreplay.”

Danny smiled at the goofy ‘trying-to-flirt’ look on Laura’s face. “Yeah, that sounds good. Send me a text or something. And maybe we could go to the Lustig for dinner again now that you know I wasn’t exaggerating.”

“Yeah I have no idea why I was stubborn about going there for so long.”

“Probably cause of your passionate dislike of all gentrified areas.”

“Yeah something like that.” The two burst into giggles.

After tugging on her shoes and giving Laura one last kiss, Danny was out the door. To her credit, Laura waited until she heard footsteps going down the stairs before she flopped back onto the couch with a sigh of exhaustion.

It took nearly half an hour but eventually Laura had somehow managed to drag her overly-exhausted self through her nightly routine and finally into bed. Thankfully she and Danny had managed to break down most of the boxes that were over-crowding her apartment before things had gotten a bit more…heated.

But just as Laura had shut off the lights, snuggled under the covers, and was about to drift off to slumberland, a rhythmic banging started to come from the wall behind her bed. In her half asleep state it took until she could heard the very audible moans for her to figure out what was going on.

“Are you freaking serious?!” Laura suddenly bolted upright, disgusted by how close she was to the source of those sounds (it had to be coming from just on the other side of the wall). She had no issues with people having as much as sex as they wanted, but when that sex started to interfere with her sleep…“oh _hell_ no!”

Sitting up, Laura began to bang away furiously at the wall behind her bed. And for a moment she thought it had worked. For a moment everything went quiet. For a moment Laura was able to settle back into her cozy bed. But only for a moment.

Like some sick twisted joke the banging and moaning started up again, this time twice as loud, as though the two women (and yes Laura was sure those moans belonged to two ladies now) on the other side of the wall were determined that Laura would never get to sleep for having interrupted their coital exploits. Not to be outdone, Laura renewed her efforts to get them to quiet down but soon gave up as the sounds of sex only grew louder and louder until even Laura’s bed was shaking.

Glancing at the clock, Laura decided that it was much too late for this and so moved her bed a few inches from the wall to stop it from shaking and began to dig through the piles of crap lining her room looking for some headphones. Giving up after she realized that they could be literally anywhere in her apartment, she settled for the good old fashioned pillow technique. Sadly, while her down pillow was insanely comfy, it did little to block out the sound.

1am: The banging slowed but the moans were much louder

1:30am: The banging resumed and the moans were more like wails of pleasure

1:45am: Laura had to admit whoever was on the other side of that wall had incredible stamina.

2:20am: Okay, she was almost certain now that they were just doing this to keep her awake.

2:30am: They’re done. Finally.

2:40am: Just kidding.

3:05am: Sweet, blissful quiet.

Without waiting to find out if her mystery sex goddess of a neighbor was up for another round Laura allowed her eyes to finally drift shut, sleep carrying her far far away.

That is until she was rudely awoke by her siren of an alarm not five hours later.

Dragging herself out of bed, Laura went through her morning routine half asleep and cursing her neighbor.

She glanced at the clock. 8:30. Crap. So much for her hearty breakfast plan. A packet of Poptarts would have to do if she actually wanted a chance of making it to work on time. Grabbing her bag, an appropriate blazer, and thankfully her shoes, Laura ran out the door, Poptart packet clenched tightly between her teeth.

One bus ride and twelve underground stops later, Laura was rushing into one the shining, nondescript office buildings that made up the business district.

Laura made it up the three flights of stairs and into the newspaper office with two minutes to spare; which was fantastic seeing as Editor-in-chief, Ms. M. Cochrane was waiting for Laura at her desk.

“Ms. Hollis, excellent timing. Could I have a word in my office?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Laura struggled to keep her composure as she resettled her frantic hair and tugged her shirt back into place. She only had a second to exchange glances with her new desk mates before following her boss to the other end of the floor where the private offices were located.

Ms. M. Cochrane was an old-fashioned and honorable woman. In her day she had been one of the nation’s finest investigative journalists until her sudden “retirement.” It seemed as though she had disappeared into the mysteries that she had been so fond of unraveling. In fact she had actually settled down with her long-time investigating partner, Nell, in a quiet, uptown apartment. Ten years later, she had reappeared as the Editor-in-chief of _The Styria Standard_ , a quiet yet professional city newsletter. The only reason _The Standard_ had grown into its current level of repute was because of her firm yet fair leadership.

Ms. M. Cochrane’s office was a living museum of this fantastic life. The first time Laura had stepped foot in the office not four weeks prior, she had found it very difficult to focus on the small woman interviewing her from behind the large oak desk. The walls were covered in newspaper clippings. Stories that had been written by Cochrane herself as well as some of her more favored protégés. “Reminders of why I come into this blasted office every day,” she had told Laura. The desk itself was littered in an organized hodgepodge of current stories and old memories. The one wall that was not plastered with newspaper was behind the desk and was instead home to a plethora of books. In the corner of one of the shelves, Laura had been sure to notice as soon as she’d entered, was a large picture of Cochrane and her wife of many years, Nell. In the corner of the frame was a much older and smaller photo booth picture of the two as young reporters. Laura was happy to see that not all love stories ended in tragedy. 

But as Laura entered the office that morning she ignored the décor and went straight to the large seat in front of the desk. It was hard for her not to feel like a child as her legs dangled over the edge, not touching the floor. 

“Miss Hollis, I’m sorry to drag you away so early, dear, but there was something I wanted to discuss with you that was rather pressing.” Laura could feel the pit in her stomach as it moved into her throat. She knew exactly what this was about. “It’s come to my attention that some of your pieces the past few weeks have been a little…lackluster. And I’m just concerned if this is the right position for you at this point.”

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Cochrane. I know that I haven’t really been hitting the mark lately. It’s just, as I mentioned a few weeks back, the subject matter isn’t necessarily my forte.” _Please, please, please don’t fire me. Please don’t fire me._

“I understand that. But as I told you when you were first hired, having a topic, in your case gardening, that isn’t necessarily exciting or even interesting makes for a fantastic challenge. As a writer it is your task to make such a field fascinating to your reader. A truly good reporter can make hedges into headlines. When your work first crossed my desk, Miss Hollis, I saw not only its brilliance – for it was brilliant – but it’s potential. Your work, when you yourself are interested in it, has a certain je ne sais quoi that can’t be taught. Which is exactly why I put you with plants in the first place. It’s not just because, like all journalists, you have to start small before you can go on to bigger and better things. It’s also because you have a skill, Miss Hollis, a certain way with words that, if coupled with the discipline and frustration it takes to run a mind-numbingly boring weekly gardening column, can someday become an incredible journalistic talent. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Laura sat, feeling like a child being scolded, and tried to string together an appropriate response. “You’re saying that I need to work harder, to focus on trying to make gardening more interesting because doing so would give me the discipline that I need to succeed in this field. I just,” she hesitated, hoping that she wasn’t being too forward, “I don’t understand how researching about plants is going to help me become a better investigative journalist.”

Cochrane smiled. “Research, my dear, is about far more than cracking open a book. It involves patience, discipline, and the willingness to put aside one’s own self for the sake of the larger story. For the sake of the truth.”

Laura opened her mouth to speak but then closed it as she realized that she had nothing to say.

Cochrane continued, “Find your story, Miss Hollis. Find your story and dig deep. And, please, do not disappoint me. You are so much better than the work you have thus far produced and I would hate to have to recommend you to _The Chronicle_. You’ve been given a great opportunity, don’t throw that away.”

Thanking Ms. Cochrane for her advice, Laura slowly made her way back to her desk. The rest of her day consisted of her trying not to freak out and being continuously prodded awake by one of her two desk mates. Laura was sent home that evening with uncharacteristic instructions from her friend Betty to ‘get some freaking shut eye Hollis.’

But Laura’s plans to ‘get some freaking shut up’ were cut short as soon as she closed her front door behind her. She could have disregarded the teetering pile of broken boxes that needed to be taken to the recycling. She could have over-looked the flood of boxes that still occupied half her floor space. She could have even turned a blind eye to the stacks of dirty dishes that were spread across the living room. But the pumping rhythm of an electric bass coming from next door was much trickier to ignore.

“Okay, seriously?!” Laura was fully prepared to march down the hall and give this obnoxious neighbor a piece of her mind. But when she threw open the door she was met with a very startled Perry and a Lafontaine whose hand was poised to knock.

“Laura!”

Opening a door to discover something completely unexpected on the other side is a very disorienting experience and Laura was appropriately perplexed, “Wha-….how’d….what the hell are you guys doing here?”

“Hello to you too.” Laf said, brushing past Laura to get into the apartment.

Perry followed close behind, muttering a hurried “sorry” as she passed, leaving Laura still gaping at the now empty hallway.

“Real nice neighbor you’ve got there.” Laf noted as they pushed aside boxes and flopped down on the couch. The bass was starting to rattle the dirty dishes piled on the coffee table. “And I see you and Lawrence have made some excellent headway on the unpacking.”

“I already finished unpacking and you know that Danny doesn’t-“ Laura stopped short, “Danny! Dammit, I was supposed to call her after I got off work!” She pulled out her phone and hit speed dial, “You guys don’t mind…do you?”

“Nah, I love third wheeling you two.”

“Lafontaine!”

Laura left the room just as Perry lighted smacked the shoulder of a giggling Lafontaine. Her bedroom wasn’t necessarily the quietest place, what with the sounds of the bass guitar still coming from next door, but it was at least away from Laf and Perry’s prying ears. The phone rang once, twice, three times before going to voice mail.

“This is Danny Lawrence. Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now I’m probably either in the library or elbows deep in papers. If it’s urgent send me a text or an email otherwise leave a message after the beep.” The aforementioned beep sounded in Laura’s ear.

“Hey Danny, it’s me, Laura. Just got off work and wanted to see if you were still up for hanging out tonight. Laf and Perry are here so maybe the four of us could do something together. Uh, hopefully I’ll hear back from you soon. Don’t work too hard. Okay, bye.”

No sooner had Laura hung up the phone when it began to buzz.

**_Danny [5:47] –_ ** _at the library. what’s up._

**_Laura [5:47] –_ ** _Just got off work and was wondering if you still wanted to come over._

**_Laura [5:48] –_ ** _Laf and Perry are here too_

**_Danny [5:49] –_ ** _sorry I’ll have to take a rain check. I’m way too busy. have fun with laf and perr though._

**_Laura [5:49] –_ ** _it’s okay_

Laura closed her phone as disappointment seeped through her chest. After taking a moment to collect herself she walked back out into the living room to find Laf reluctantly helping Perry to clean up some of the more obviously messy areas of the room. Most of the dishes were in the sick and, while the boxes still weren’t broken down, they had been placed in a neat pile in the corner. Which only left the piles of books and trinkets that Laura had yet to find a place for. “I wasn’t sure what to do with them so I figured it was best to just put them on the coffee table for now. Get them out of the way.”

“Thanks, Perry. But, you know you don’t have to do this right?”

“I know, dear. But I figured you might feel better if your apartment was a bit more…put together.” Perry had moved onto the bookshelves and had begun organizing the few things that Laura had actually managed to put away.

“What- I’m fine. I’m doing fine.”

“Laura, honey, _this_ ” Perry gestured to the former chaos that had been her apartment, “is not you. Sure you’re not the most cleanly and your eating habits are atrocious….but you’re generally very organized and, and motivated.”

Laf chimed in, “Yeah Hollis, this place looks about the same as it did when we helped you set your bed up last week.”

“I’ve been unpacking…slowly. My mind’s just been on other things.”

Perry turned around, “Has everything been alright between you and Danny?”

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine. Danny’s been great and being able to actually spend time with her…yeah things are fine. I’m just talking about work stuff.” Laura paused. “I think I almost got fired today.”

Both friends turned on Laura. “What?”

“Are you serious?”

“You sure it wasn’t just some game of scare the rookie?”

“I mean,” Laura began, “I guess it kinda was. My work mate, Natalie, said that she’d got the same talk when she first started out. Something about Ms. Cochrane wanting to make sure that her favorites live up to their potential or something.”

Laf clapped a hand on Laura’s back, “Well that’s good! You’ll be fiiine. Just need to step up your game a little bit.”

Defeated, Laura plopped down on the couch. “I guess. But knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better. I felt like a kid in the principal’s office today. It was embarrassing.”

Perry had scurried off to the kitchen and was just returning with two mugs of steaming liquid. “It may not be the best feeling, Laura, but you should view this as an opportunity rather than a defeat. Did she give you any advice about how to improve your article?”

“Nothing really that direct. But I guess what she wants me to do is immerse myself in it a bit more.” Laura took the hot chocolate that Perry handed her. “Thanks.”

“Everything in your fridge is made of glucose and palm oil. I’m surprised you don’t have scurvy.”

“Yeah but…delicious cookies?” Laura offered, taking a tentative sip from her mug. It was just this side of too hot and had a surprising kick that Laura hadn’t expected. She nearly choked, “Oh my god, is there booze in this?”

Perry smoothed her lap as she sat down. “I went looking for milk in your fridge but all I found was some old Bailey’s creamer. I figured you’d appreciate the extra heft. Besides, there’s got to be some calcium in there, right? I mean it’s still creamer.”

“Yeah, Perr, I don’t think that’s how that works.” Laf said, smiling into their own spiked mug of coffee. 

Giving Lafontaine a look, Perry turned her attention back to Laura, “So, it sounds like your boss…editor…whatever wants you to get better acquainted with gardening. That doesn’t sound like it should be too hard. You could start by getting a house plant or two.”

“Have you seen this place?” Laura remarked. “How am I supposed to take care of a plant if I can’t take care of myself?”

“I’ve found that taking care of yourself is actually much easier when you have someone, or something, else to take care of.”

“Yeah, why do you think she’s spent so much time taking care of me. I’m her house plant.” Laf added.

“You’re not my- I don’t think that- ” Perry tried to argue. “Okay, fine. The analysis isn’t completely correct but the sentiment is true. Taking care of my friends is how I stay sane.”

“I don’t know, the analysis seems pretty spot on to me. Don’t you think so, Laura?”

“Stop being ridiculous Lafontaine.”

“Actually it’s La _fern_ taine now.”

“ _Anyways_ , what I was trying to say, Laura, is that I think maybe you should go to the nursery tomorrow and pick out a couple small plants. Who knows, maybe they’ll provide just the inspiration you need.”

Laura was about to argue but she knew that Perry and Laf were right. If she really wanted to impress Cochrane then she was going to have to thoroughly investigate just what made plants so interesting. Which, as Perry had pointed out, would mean a trip to a nursery and probably some pre-emptive research. And then all she had to do was not kill the darn things. If she could manage all that then maybe, just maybe, Laura might have a chance to keep her job. Maybe.

Laf and Perry stuck around for a few more hours. Laf talked about how dull things were at the lab now that they had been assigned to more mundane research. But that didn’t stop them from taking some “work” home. It was, of course, purely academic. Everything in Perry’s life was going well. Her job was routine, her second job was routine, the neighbors and their yappy dog had finally moved out, and her mother was coming to visit next weekend. Everything was perfectly normal.

However, halfway through a discussion about the new building being renovated downtown to house the growing Silas branch of the Corvae Corporation, Laura found herself dozing off. She had to stifle a yawn but thankfully Laf and Perry took the hint. After a few short good-byes and a barely hidden remark from Perry about stopping by to check on Laura more frequently, they were finally off and Laura was free.

Free to finish her work for the evening. Free to clean up the dishes now piled in the kitchen sink. Free to take care of the now manageable pile of boxes sitting beside the front door.

Free to finally collapse on her bed. Which is exactly what Laura did. Not bothering to take off her clothes and hardly aware that the lights in the kitchen were still on, she promptly fell fast asleep; oblivious to the world.

So oblivious, in fact, that she slept right through her 8:00 alarm. And her 8:15 alarm. And her 8:30 alarm. After almost a solid half-hour of ringing alarms it was the silence of 8:45 that finally woke Laura from her princess-like slumber.

Bleary eyed and still dressed in the same clothes from the day before she glanced over at the clock and promptly jumped out of the bed as though it were on fire.

_Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap._

Laura cursed as she ran around trying to reassemble a new outfit, get her bag together, and figure out where in the hell her other shoe had gotten off to. She settled for a different shirt as she couldn’t find any clean pants. And hopefully no one would notice if she wore her beat up Chuck Taylors instead of her more professional flats.

8:57. Three minutes.

With no possible way to get there on time, Laura resigned herself to the same route that she took every day. As it turned out there were less people traveling at 9 and so her commute took about ten minutes less than normal.

At 9:23 Laura found herself sneaking through her office floor, hoping that no one noticed that she hadn’t already been there for twenty minutes. It was totally possible that she’d just come from a meeting or the bathroom or something, right?

But her hopes of flying in under the radar were dashed as soon as she sat down at her desk.

“Someone got a late start.” Natalie said, not even bothering to turn around.

“Yeah, I sort of over-slept my alarm.”

“Don’t tell me.” Betty started. “Your neighbor’s sexcapades kept you up all night again? Cause your weary face is either the result of terrible sex or not getting laid at all.”

Laura didn’t bother to face Betty as she responded, “Actually, neither. I had some friends come over and stay for a bit and then I guess I was just really tired.”

“We’ve seriously got to work on your excuses, girl. ‘Having visitors is so tiring’ is so old ladyish.”

“Yeah, yeah. You can reform my country girl ways another day, okay Betty.” Distracted, Laura had pulled out her laptop and was looking for her charger.

“Leave her be,” Natalie said. “She’s had a rough week.”

“It’s only, like, Tuesday.” Betty shrugged and turned away, “you still up for drinks after work?”

“Nah I can’t. I have to stop at a nursery after work.” Both of Laura’s coworkers stared at her. “A plant nursery. You know, for plants.”

Natalie turned back to her work as Betty rolled her eyes. “You worry me Hollis, you really worry me.”

The rest of the day was spent in relative silence as Laura started, stopped, continued, deleted, and restarted her weekly article several times. By lunch time her laptop had declared itself ‘low on battery’ and, having not found her charger, Laura decided that it was time to just give up and began to research late summertime plants. It wasn’t necessarily the most productive use of her time but it was on topic and Ms. Cochrane had told her to do more research. And besides, she should probably know _something_ when she went to the nursery. She was the writer of a gardening column after all.

The clock seemed to tick through the hours at an even slower pace than normal. 1 o’clock. 1:25. 1:55. 2 o’clock. 2:30. 2:43. 2:53. 3 o’clock. 3:06. 3:09. 3:27. 3:30. 3:45. 4 o’clock. 4:10. 4:15. 4:25. 4:30. 4:35. 4:40. 4:45. Laura finally decided that it was time to go. Obviously the clock the broken and really what was another fifteen minutes anyways. Besides, she had places to go that were totally and completely actually work related. Leaving early was the most productive option. Gathering up her laptop and a few notes that she had taken, Laura tossed her bag over her shoulder, called out a quick good-bye to Natalie and Betty, and was on her way out the door.

Thankfully, she made it out to the street without seeing anyone else. Hopping aboard her usual subway, Laura began to make her way back across town to the nursery that was just two short blocks from her apartment.

She arrived at around 5:10 at the most overcrowded street corner nursery that she had ever seen. Not only were there flowers and ferns and all other manner of house plants spilling out onto the sidewalk, but the inside was completely covered in greenery, leaving almost no room to walk. A small bell tinkled as she walked inside.

“Hey, you need help with anything?” A peppy blonde stood behind the counter. She looked to be about a year or so younger than Laura and was simultaneously working on homework and filing receipts. Laura missed having that sort of motivation.

“Yeah, I’m actually looking for a couple of things.” Laura pulled out a list. “A hydrangea, a fern, and probably some sort of herb or something. What would you recommend?”

The girl walked out from behind the counter, “Well, what is it that you’re trying to do exactly?”

“I want to start a garden on my balcony. But I’m sort of terrible at taking care of plants so I wanted to start small and basic.”

The girl laughed. “Alright, well hydrangeas and ferns are always good, but there are a lot more options out there that might be better suited for what you’re looking for. Such as…”she walked over to a corner of the store and pulled out a small potted plant with tiny pink flowers, “this is a Crown of Thorns. It might not look like much but give it enough light and you can almost forget about it.” She handed the plant to Laura. “And this,” she pulled down one of the hanging plants the covered the ceiling, “is a spider plant. They take a bit more looking after but they’re really lovely and these little hangy bits are actually their babies. You can just cut ‘em right off and they make excellent house warming gifts.” That too was handed to Laura. “And if you’re looking for herbs your best bet at this time of year would be some rosemary or sage or thyme. You could keep them outside but you don’t have to. Especially in the city they can be really cute if you have a windowsill above your sink or something.” Laura was handed three more small pots before being led to the other end of the shop. “And as for flowers, well, hydrangeas are all well and good but you’ll want a bit more color if you’re going to balance out all that green. Rose mallow and Cupid’s Dart are really bright and unique. And so is the spider flower but that’s probably a bit too tall for a balcony. The zinnia is good if you want a lot of color. Some nice reds to balance out the indigos and violets of the hydrangeas. The allium, coreopsis, celosia, and pincushion are all really nice too but it’s looking like you’ve got your hands full.” The blonde girl had finally turned around and had noticed Laura struggling to keep all of the pots balanced.

“Yeah, just a bit.” Laura joked. “This has actually been _extremely_ helpful. But do you by any chance have some place I could put these while I decide.”

“Absolutely, you can just put those on the counter and I can hold them for you or put them back if you still want to just get a couple today and maybe come back some other time. Whatever you want to do.”

Laura carefully wound her way back to the front and put the plants on the counter. It took nearly an hour but by the time Laura and the girl had finished going through the store Laura was fairly certain that she had a decently sized and fairly diverse garden. If this didn’t help spark her writing then she probably should start looking for another career.

In the end, Laura purchased two small ferns, a spider plant clipping (because the large plant was honestly too much), the crown of thorns, a little bit of rosemary, sage, and thyme (with some helpful instructions about what they could be used for), a handful of zinnias and hydrangeas, a flat each of cupid’s dart, rose mallow, coreopsis, and pincushion, some prepotted bee balm, and enough pots so that everything could have its own home. The total came to an amount that Laura never wanted to think about again.

The next challenge was carrying everything the two blocks back to her apartment. Luckily, the blonde girl who had helped her through the store also offered to lend her a hand in getting stuff home. “Don’t worry about it,” she’d said, “it’s closing time anyways.”

The two had walked in an awkward silence, both trying to juggle a ridiculous number of plants. When they got to Laura’s place the other girl made some comment about having possibly been there before. She helped Laura get all the plants situated on the back porch and gave her a final word or two of re-potting advice before she headed for the door. “And if you’ve ever got any questions or whatever just stop by the shop and ask for Elsie.”

Once the other girl, Elsie, was gone Laura set to work. She spent the last few day light hours re-potting and watering and organizing her new garden. She only remembered to eat because Perry called at around 7 to check in. After polishing off Danny’s left-overs from the Lustig, Laura went back outside to admire her balcony.

What had started the night as a rusting apartment balcony was now a small oasis of green. The wobbly chair in the corner was now home to her small collection of herbs and a laminated sign explaining each one’s intended purpose. The crusty glass table was covered in an assortment of blues and pinks and oranges. The two ferns took up the little bit of space between the table and chair with the spider plant hanging overhead.

Satisfied with her work, Laura went back inside to get a pitcher so that she could water everything one last time before twilight faded into night. But as she was leaning down to water the two ferns Laura was suddenly greeted by a pair of large, yellow eyes.

“What the- shoo. Get out of here!” The cat that had been sitting beneath her table continued to look at her apathetically. “Don’t you think that just because it’s all nice out here now you can make yourself comfortable.” Laura scolded. “I don’t know where you came from. But these are my plants, mine! So…so…back off okay!” The cat blinked slowly before flopping down on the floor. Laura threw up her hands in surrender and returned to her watering.

The rest of the week went by in a flurry of routine. Laura quickly developed the habit of coming home from work and spending the remainder of the daylight hours on the balcony watering and caring for her plants when she wasn’t working on her column.

The column itself was, no pun intended, finally coming into bloom. While at first Laura would have been hard-pressed to admit that she was actually enjoying her new hobby, her writing would say otherwise. What had once been a drab and rather dull weekly article had become a creative how-to advice column for young city living. By Thursday she had already finished a piece on getting the most out of your tiny apartment space and had begun working on next week’s article: “How Plants Help Open the Room.” (The title was a work in progress, okay).

Even her friends had noticed a change. Perry had stopped by Wednesday evening and had been pleased to find that not only was the entire apartment picked up and cleaned, but Laura had finally managed to find a place for everything. And during their movie date, Danny had commented on how Laura seemed less worried and uptight. Even Lafontaine had noticed that Laura was sounding more like herself on Twitter.

But it wasn’t until Friday that Laura finally admitted to herself that the cause behind her new rejuvenation was her tiny balcony garden. She had just finished shooing away her neighbor’s black cat (of course it was her neighbor’s, who else would own such an invasive and annoying animal) when she’d accidently knocked over the water pitcher, spilling it all down her front. And what would normally have sent her into a fit of rage and frustration actually sent her into a fit of laughter. That night not even the low moans and rhythmic banging of her neighbor could darken her mood. 

The weekend passed in very much the same way as the rest of the week. Except this time, without the distraction of work, Laura spent almost every second outside in her garden. And she wasn’t just caring for her plants or writing. There were plenty of other things that she wanted to do. Like make little signs to identify each of her plants. Or finally take up yoga. Or catch up on some reading. Or just soak up as much sun as she could before the end of the summer (she’d taken to wearing a bikini after the whole water spilling incident so there was definitely a lot of soaking going on). And while she thankfully didn’t see much of the black cat that had taken up residence under her garden chair she thought she saw some movement next door. But that was probably just a trick of the light.

The real test of just how well the garden was working came on the following Monday. Her article had been printed in the Sunday edition of _The Standard_ which meant that Monday was her make it or break it day.

Laura had laid out all her clothes the night before and taken every precaution to make sure that she didn’t over sleep her alarm. And if it hadn’t been for her neighbor having the sudden urge to listen to Joan Jett at two in the morning it might have worked.

At 8:30 Laura’s head popped off the pillow in a fit of panic. _Crap_! Tossing on clothes, stuffing a packet of Poptarts into her mouth, and throwing on the first pair of shoes that she found Laura made it out the door in a record-breaking four minutes.

One bus ride and twelve underground stops later Laura was rushing up the last of three flights of stairs when a sudden sense of déjà vu hit her hard in the chest. She checked her phone. Two minutes to spare. Pushing open the door into her office she quickly shuffled over to her desk. Only to find Ms. M. Cochrane standing right in front of it.

“Good morning, Miss Hollis. I was just looking to speak with you in my office.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Carmilla

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Life and all that other nonsense, ya'know?
> 
> Chapter Warnings: creepy stalkers and late night walks alone

Laura felt like she was going to throw up. She tightly gripped the strap of her laptop bag as she followed Ms. Cochrane into her office.

“Please, have a seat.” Laura sat on the edge so that her feet wouldn’t dangle. “As I’m sure you’re aware this meeting is in reference to your latest article.” The knot in Laura’s stomach tightened. “And let me just say, Miss Hollis, that I absolutely adored it. I don’t know what it was that you tapped into over the past week but keep it up, Laura, and before long you may find yourself with something a little more gratifying than gardening.”

Laura’s head swam with relief as she was suddenly able to breathe again. The rest of the conversation passed by in a dizzying haze of liberation as the burden that Laura had been carrying around was finally gone. There was a remark about the benefits of writing to a specific audience and a brief discussion concerning the improvements to Laura’s personal life brought on by her new gardening habit, but overall Laura could hardly care about what was being said. She was free.

After being dismissed from Cochrane’s office, Laura practically bounced back to her desk, where she was quickly engulfed by her ever gossip-hungry co-workers, Betty and Natalie.

Betty, who was young and blonde and wrote a popular gossip column that featured the intimate details of the lives of Styria’s rich and famous, was the first to reach Laura. “Sooo, what happened? You get promoted? Fired? Forced into becoming a sacrifice for a Cthulhu-worshiping cult? Come on Hollis you’ve got to tell us everything.” She dragged Laura into the half-circle of desks that was their work space, nearly throwing Laura into her swivel chair.

“Well,” Laura began, trying to hide her excitement, “she loved it!”

Both women squealed.

“I told you you weren’t in any danger.” Natalie said matter-of-factly. She was short with long black hair. Nearly thirty, Natalie had been there longer than the other two. A fact that seemed to trigger her more maternal instincts.

“Yeah, yeah. You were right.” Laura responded, “Can we just skip to the part where we celebrate the fact that I don’t have to worry about joining _The Chronicle_.”

“Here, here!” Betty exclaimed, raising an imaginary glass. “To Hollis not having to write for that sleaze fest.

The other two joined in, “To Hollis!” The three collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Pulling herself together, Natalie continued. “So what did she say exactly?”

“Well, she said that she really enjoyed the fact that I was focusing in on a young and hip audience. And that if I continue doing so well on it, I might actually be able to work a proper story soon.” Laura beamed.

Natalie’s face grew very serious. “Just be careful with that. I took on a big story my first year here and let’s just say, I got in a little too deep. By the end I just went to Cochrane and asked her to put me back on the astronomy stuff.”

Laura was going to ask Natalie what she meant but her desk mate had already turned back around. Following suite, Laura opened her laptop and began working on another article that she had thought of during her morning commute.

Laura was so immersed in her work that it was already dark by the time she closed her laptop and began packing up her things. Betty and Natalie had left a few hours before and almost all the lights in the office had been turned off, save for the one on her desk. Shoving her laptop into her bag, Laura stood to leave, not even noticing the emptiness that comes with being the last to leave.

The subway wasn’t as crowded late at night, so Laura actually had somewhere to sit. She pulled out her notepad and started an outline for an idea she’d had as she was walking out the door. Brow scrunched in concentration, Laura eventually looked up to see that she had missed her stop. “Crap!” Shoving her thinks into her bag, Laura made her way down the car to a city map. She had just enough time to figure out where she was in relation to her apartment before the train stopped and the doors opened. Laura hurried out of the car and up the nearest set of steps.

The late summer night air was thick and sticky. Like a storm was just on the horizon. Laura tried to steady her heart as she looked around at the unfamiliar street. It was a fairly busy part of town and Laura recognized none of it. She clutched at the strap of her bag as she spun around, trying to figure out which way to go. It was times like this when she wished she’d just gone ahead and traded in her old flip phone for something a bit smarter. The map had said that her street was only ten blocks north on Keenan Ave., but Laura couldn’t seem to find it. Figuring that she must have taken the wrong exit from the underground, Laura began to walk around the block, keeping an eye on the street signs. No luck. Laura stood off to the side of the walkway as she considered her predicament. When she’d looked at the map, Keenan Ave. appeared to be one of the main roads that ran parallel to each other. This meant that it was most-likely parallel to the main road that she was currently on. Reasoning that it was probably close to the station and knowing that it wasn’t the street she had passed when circling the block, Laura figured that her best bet was the main road one block in the other direction. She began to walk in that direction, thankful for some sort of plan and willing herself not to panic until she’d exhausted all possible solutions. Thankfully, she didn’t have to as Laura caught sight of a sign that read Keenan Ave. Market. Laura loosened the death grip on her bag and she began walking in a direction that she hoped was North.

About two blocks into her walk, Laura noticed movement behind her in the reflection of one of the shop windows. She chanced a glance behind her. Following her was a tall middle-aged man, broad-shouldered and tall with a beer gut, wearing sweatpants and sweatshirt. It was a little unsettling but Laura paid him no mind. He was probably just out for a stroll (or maybe a jog because he did seem rather out of breathe). Laura slowed her pace a touch and waited for the man to pass her. He never did. At the next block she glanced back again. He was still behind her. Still the same distance. Laura put her hand in her bag and clutched the mace that her father had given her, just in case.

Two more blocks and he was still there. Laura picked up her pace. The man did too. She really hoped that she was going in the right direction.

Laura was uneasy about the lack of cars as she jogged across the middle of the street. The man followed her with ease.

Laura wanted to run. Every fiber of her being told her to run. But still nothing looked familiar. What if she ran and it was in the wrong direction? Would she be able to keep running and get even more lost? Laura decided it wasn’t worth the risk and tried to keep her pace steady.

By the seventh block Laura felt as though her heart was threatening to beat out of her throat. She told herself that the reason nothing was familiar was because she was still too far from her street. That she hadn’t made it this far down yet. The man was getting closer. Laura could smell old French Fries and cheap deodorant.

Block eight. Finally, Laura saw a bar that she recognized from her drive into the city on the day that she had moved. She was heading in the right direction. But that presented another set of problems. Mainly, that Laura had to find some way to shake this guy before he followed her to her front door. She decided that if he didn’t make a move she was going to. With only two and a half blocks until her apartment she had to do something to get rid of him. And he’d been following her long enough that she’d be perfectly within her rights to put her mace to use. She pulled the container from her purse and held it in her hand, making sure that it was completely visible. The sounds of the man’s footsteps faded.

Laura was just passing the ninth block when she decided that it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, she stopped suddenly and spun on her heel, arm raised and ready to strike. But there was no one there. Figuring that the man must have seen the mace and decided she wasn’t worth it, Laura turned back around. She didn’t let her guard down until she was safely behind the locked door of her own apartment.

The familiar sounds of a bass guitar seeped in from the apartment next door. But Laura didn’t mind. In fact, it was almost a comfort. The steady beat of the bass helped her heart to reestablish a normal rhythm. By the time she was snuggled into bed she had decided that it was just one of the adventures of living in the big city. And by the next day she’d almost forgotten about it. Creepy guys following her wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t exactly unusual either. So when Laura told Danny about it during their next Lustig dinner date it was more of a side note.

Danny didn’t see it the same way.

“What the hell were you thinking, Laura!” Danny nearly shouted, lowering her voice when she noticed that people had begun to stare, “You should have called me or…or…something! You shouldn’t be walking home alone like that.”

Laura folded and unfolded the wrapper from her straw, “Danny, its fine. Nothing actually happened.”

“Nothing? Laura who knows what that sleaze ball could have done to you.”

“I’m not defenseless you know.”

“I know that. It’s just…” Danny looked around the diner as though she’d find the words she was looking for. “You’ve got to let me know when you walk around on your own like that.”

Laura looked up, brow furrowed, “Because it’s your job to look after me?”

“No! I just care about you Laura. I want to make sure that you’re safe.”

“You’re starting to sound just like my dad.”

“Laura, I didn’t-“ Danny was cut off as a plate of pouched eggs and smoking hash browns was placed in front of her.

“You need anything else?” Mel, their waitress, asked apathetically. Danny shook her head. “Great.” Mel stalked off, leaving the couple in an awkward silence.

Danny went to restart the conversation but Laura had already dug into her burger and was making a point of ignoring her girlfriend. The two worked on their meals in silence.

Laura was picking at the last of her fries when Danny finally spoke. “So how’s the noisy neighbor situation going?”

“Fine.” It came out with more bite than Laura had intended. “Well, not fine necessarily but things haven’t gotten worse.”

“You try and talk to her?”

“Sort of. I knocked on her door once to tell her to turn her music down but ironically it was so loud she couldn’t hear me.” Danny chuckled softly and Laura looked up, smiling.

“Well if you need me to I could always knock some sense into her.” Danny offered.

Laura’s smile faded. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this one covered."

As they finished they talked about the weather, how Laura’s garden was going, their concern for Laf’s latest home-grown experiment, but even as Danny drove Laura home they had not reopened their previous discussion.

Danny parked the car across the street and insisted on walking Laura to the door. 

Laura was having a hard time looking Danny in the eye. “Thanks again. For dinner.”

“Of course, Laura.” Danny hesitated. “You know I don’t mean to sound like your dad, right.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I just worry about you sometimes.”

“You and everyone else apparently.” Laura looked up, “I just…I need you to be able to trust me too. I’m not that naïve little freshman anymore. I _can_ fend for myself.”

“I know. But I still worry.”

Danny leaned in to kiss Laura. It only lasted for a moment before Laura broke away. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Yeah alright. See ya, Laura.” Laura watched as Danny walked back to her car, noticing the disappointment settling into her shoulders. But she couldn’t bring herself to really care.

Of course Danny was just being her normal protective self and Laura appreciated that she cared. But why didn’t anyone think she could actually do this? Her dad had sat her down on several different occasions before moving out to remind her of the “stranger danger” basics. Perry was always fussing over the state of her apartment. Even Laf gave her sideways glances whenever Laura mentioned having done something less than wise. And now Danny was reprimanding her for walking home like she was still a child.

Laura pulled out her key and jammed it into the lock. She was doing just fine on her own. She’d managed to overcome her first major obstacle at work so that was going well. And she hadn’t had to ask her Dad for money yet. And alright, she had been followed almost to her doorstep but nothing had happened and she had been prepared for the worst. Creepy guys following young women home wasn’t exactly front page news. It was bound to happen at some point, alone or not.

In fact, Laura paused halfway to the elevator, there was no reason why she couldn’t go for a nice walk right now. The thought of going back and stewing in her apartment was far from appealing and the night air probably would help her cool off a bit. A nice walk through the park, some quality time in her garden, a warm shower. It was exactly what Laura needed after such a long week. She turned on her heel and walked back out the front door.

The late summer air was crisp and almost cold and a gentle breeze shook the leaves. A few puddles still remained from the previous day’s rain. Laura shoved her hands in her pockets and headed out. The streets weren’t quite empty. A few people were still out, walking home from dates and dinners. Even fewer cars were on the road, shining their headlights across Laura’s path. Others may have found it a bit eerie, how quiet the city was getting, but Laura found it peaceful.

The nearest park was three blocks from Laura’s apartment, in the same direction as the nursery. It occupied the equivalent of ten square blocks spreading out from the main stretch of road that passed in front of Laura’s building. She had been there once before, when she had first moved in and had been looking to avoid the daunting task of unpacking.

Laura was still steaming as she walked into the park, hardly noticing the plethora of hollow eyes that followed her every movement. She marched along the main path to the center of the park and then turned right onto one of the winding trails that led further into the dark. All the while willing something to happen. Anything. Just so that she could prove to Danny, to her dad, to everyone, that she really was capable of taking care of herself.

_Why can’t they just trust me? I made it through college just fine. I pay for my own internet. I was able to get a job. I’ve kept a whole freaking garden alive for over a week. Hell, I’ve even been eating vegetables. But nooo, little Laura can’t walk home alone in the dark._ Laura stopped short when she realized that she had reached the far corner of the park. She remembered the path being longer.

“Alright, time to calm down.” She took a deep breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. It did little to steady her anger. Frustrated, Laura picked up a rock and chucked it at the nearest tree. It missed by nearly a foot and landed with a rustle in one of the carefully clipped bushes that lined the path. She picked up another rock and threw it. That one missed too and landed on the grass. Another rock was thrown. Another miss. Laura bit back a scream as she picked up a handful of rocks and chucked them all at the tree. Two made contact and the sound reverberated in the night.

Flopping down on a nearby bench, Laura sighed and put her head back. The night was cloudy but she knew she wouldn’t be able to see the stars anyways. The city was too bright for that. Laura could feel tears begin to sting her eyes but she pushed them back. Crying alone in a park would not help her case.

When she had graduated from college, Laura had been prepared for the loneliness of leaving her friends and for the financial difficulty that came with living on your own while paying back student loans. But no one had warned her that she was going to have to do all that while still trying to prove that she wasn’t a child. Of course she’d expected it from her father. But Danny? Laf? And okay, Perry wasn’t a surprise but still. Did no one trust that she knew what she was doing? And the worst part was: maybe they were right.

The sound of footsteps forced Laura’s attention back to the present. Her head snapped around as she reached for her mace. It wasn’t there. Laura began running through possible defenses in her mind, ignoring the frantic beating of her heart. If nothing else, she was fairly sure that her sheer stubbornness and willpower to prove everyone wrong would be enough to drive any possible abductor away. As the darkened figure drew closer, Laura felt her whole body tense, ready to strike. She sat completely still as the figure shuffled past her and away, muttering to themselves.

Laura released a breath. A voice that sounded very much like Danny was chastising her for how close that was but Laura ignored it. Instead she stood and began to walk in the opposite direction, back the way she’d came.

Though the walk back hardly helped answer any of Laura’s questions, it did give her enough space to quell her anger. Without rage clouding her senses, Laura was able to actually notice her surroundings. In particular, the apparent tent city that seemed to have appeared in the night. Small clusters of tents, sleeping bags, and all assortment of other arrangements were set up throughout the park. Laura wondered how she’d managed to go past all this without noticing it. It was quite impressive. As Laura walked back out the main entrance and onto the main road she checked around for some sort of indication that might suggest if the park was officially sanctioned as a shelter or not. She found nothing besides the shiny new official park sign declaring that Sheridan Park was property of the Silas Division of the Corvae Corporation.

The park’s nocturnal community was enough to drive most other thoughts from Laura’s mind, at least for the walk back to her apartment. There was just something about it that had peaked Laura’s interest, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. As Laura dug for her keys, however, she was struck again by the absence of her mace and the incident in the park and all other thoughts were once more pushed away. But Laura wasn’t about to let the frustration that was bubbling under her skin win out. She put her curiosity on the back burner, determined to look into it more the next day, and tried to focus on just getting upstairs and tending to her garden. And even if that didn’t help she was sure that a nice, warm shower would.

But as Laura walked into her bedroom and threw open the balcony doors, she was greeted not by the bright colors and subtle comfort of her miniature garden, but rather by a handful of upturned pots, piles of dirt and leaves, flashes of color that had once been miraculously blooming flowers, and a black cat whose shit-eating grin showed no sign of remorse.

Laura could feel the rage course through her blood. Like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. This was it. This was the absolute final straw. If she had to break down her neighbor’s door then she would.

Snatching the cat up, Laura stormed back through her apartment, out the door, and down the hall. Drawing herself to her full height of 5' 2 1/4" Laura pounded away at the door, ignoring the yowling cat trying to escape her stubborn grasp.

Laura wasn't sure what she had expected when it came to her annoying-as-all-hell neighbor, but it certainly wasn't what she got. The door to the apartment suddenly flew open (nearly hitting Laura) and before her stood one of the most attractive women Laura had ever seen. Her long black hair cascaded in waves past a chiseled jaw bone and spread across pale shoulders. She was slender and small, almost fragile in the way she leaned against the doorframe. As Laura glanced down she noticed that it was extremely likely that the girl had just rolled out of bed because she was wearing nothing more than a t-shirt (that was hanging in all the best ways) and a pair of Batman boxers.

All of the rants and ravings that had been running through her brain for the past few weeks died on Laura's tongue as she struggled to remember her own name. Or why she'd come there in the first place. Or how come the other girl couldn't have at least put proper pants on before answering the door because this was just not fair. The cat in her hand yowled. Oh, right. But instead of ripping into the woman before her all that came out of Laura's mouth was, "Ohmigod, I love Batman."

"Awesome. Can I have my cat back?" And before the blush could properly reach Laura's cheeks, the girl had snatched her cat from Laura's grip and slammed the door in her face. Thankfully the rudeness was enough to shake Laura back to her senses.

"Hold on! Come back here!" Laura was banging on the door again, this time certain that her anger would win out over her libido. It doesn't matter how attractive you are, that sort of behavior was just plain…mean.

The door flew open again. "What do you want, sweetheart?" Laura trained her eyes on the cat sitting on the girl's shoulders, determined not to get distracted by her neighbor’s ridiculously good looks.

"I'll have you know that your cat destroyed my entire garden." No reaction. "And I'm not sure if you've noticed but I have-had quite a few plants. And pots tend to get expensive and I can't really afford to buy any more right now even though I think some of them are salvageable. The plants, I mean, not the pots. But even if I can save them I'll have nowhere to put them. And I really need my garden for…reasons. And it has been a huge help in keeping me sane, which I desperately need because lately I've been so freaking tired from not getting any sleep because you keep blasting that existential punk rock whatever it is you listen to in the middle of the night!" Laura paused, trying to get her rant back on track because she had a point to all this. “And…and…I really need that garden!” Looking at the cat was becoming more of a distraction as she noticed the same apathetic look plastered on the faces of both cat and master. And how could she make this chick understand the severity of the situation because Laura was on the verge of a mental breakdown and the only thing stopping her from dragging the world down with her was her gardening and now it was gone.

"You done?"

"You should keep your cat inside so he doesn't destroy any more of my things."

"Anything else?"

Laura thought for a second. "Yeah, I'd like you to try and keep it down when you're having….company. I think our beds are against the same wall."

A pause. "Let me know the damage. I'll pay for whatever he broke." And before Laura could get in another word she was having the door slammed in her face again.

Laura returned to her apartment, still up in arms about the whole affair but at least satisfied that her neighbor had agreed to pay for the damages. She spent the next hour cleaning her balcony and making an extensive list of all the pots and plants that she'd need to replace before taking a luke-warm shower and going to bed.

The next day, after she'd cooled off a bit, Laura returned to the dreaded apartment door of her inconsiderately attractive neighbor only to find (with some disappointment) that she wasn't there. Leaving the list of all the things the cat had broken taped to the door, Laura scurried away, convincing herself that her disappointment was the result of never having learned the girl's name rather than a missed opportunity of being able to get another look at that perfect jawline or her voluptuous curls.

The next morning, Laura woke up to find an envelope filled with money shoved under her door. On the front in eloquent handwriting was scribbled:

_For Plants & Shit_

_-Carmilla_

Despite the fact that she had paid for the damages brought on by her cat, Laura quickly noticed that Carmilla was not planning on changing any of her other habits.

When Laura returned from the nursery she saw a pair of mildly annoyed yellow eyes looking at her from under her balcony chair. And later that night she once again needed to drown out the rhythmic thumping against her wall in an attempt to sleep. Laura did notice, however, that the sounds of Nirvana coming from Carmilla's apartment at 1:45 the following evening seemed to be a bit quieter. Though maybe that was just because Laura was getting used to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell you how much your comments and kudos mean to me. I just hope that you enjoy this chapter as much as the last one!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You asked for more Carmilla...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so freaking long. 
> 
> Thanks as always to Sam for being an awesome editor. And thanks to everyone that has read and commented. I honestly can't express how much you mean to me. Most days knowing that there are actually people out there interested in this story is what keeps me going on this.
> 
> Also, I would like to mention that all the articles, books, etc. mentioned in this chapter are 100% real.
> 
> Chapter Warnings: alcohol

“Okay!” Laura slammed down a stack of papers and notebooks. It was Friday morning at the newspaper which meant that almost everyone was busy trying to finish up their Sunday column articles before the weekend. All except Laura, who had nearly three finished pieces just waiting for some final edits to be made.

Betty looked up from her computer, eyebrow raised. “What’s this?”

“This,” Laura began, plopping down in her chair, “is the research that I’ve been collecting all week.”

“Umm…”Natalie spun around, “I think you’re starting to get in too deep with this whole gardening thing.”

Laura shook her head. “These aren’t for my column. I’ve been looking into the homeless populations around Styria. Did you know that a majority of the city’s homeless live in tent cities throughout the park system? No one was doing anything so they started to form their own comities and everything. They’re really organized.”

“Yeah, well that might be changing soon.” Natalie said.

Laura looked up. “What do you mean?”

Natalie shrugged. “I mean with Silas buying out most of the parks, I’m sure those tent cities won’t last long.”

“Okay, what is Silas?” Laura asked. “I keep seeing signs for it.”

“It’s part of Corvae.” Betty chimed in. “It was a manufacturing corporation initially but now it’s a little bit of everything. Silas is their biggest department in charge of buying and refurbishing property. Part of some big plan to made Styria great again or something.” She paused and looked around, “But that’s not the interesting part. There’s a whole bunch of talk going around that the head of Silas, Belmonde, is actually-“

“Betty, we talked about this.” Natalie interjected, “No gossip-mongering about Belmonde or Silas or Corvae.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like she’s going to be sitting a couple tables away this time.”

“No, but she has ears everywhere.”

“Fine. Fine.” Betty threw her hands up, spinning her chair. She looked at Laura, “But technically it’s not gossip if it’s true.”

“Betty!”

“Alright, jeez Nats.” Natalie rolled her eyes. “So Laura, why’d you bring all your homework here? Planning on writing about the gardening habits of the homeless?”

“No, I just figured I’d organize it. You know since I finished this week’s article yesterday. And I didn’t want this stack sitting around my apartment all weekend, and if I didn’t get it done now it’s really not gonna get done ‘cause I know I won’t get it done tonight, and then it ends up just sitting there…” Laura trailed off.

“You got big plans tonight, Hollis?” Betty winked.

“Actually, yeah.” Laura smiled. “I’m going to the Lustig with my girlfriend, and then we’re meeting some old college friends and going out.”

Natalie turned around. “My roommate SJ works at the Lustig. Brunette, usually wears her hair up, really bouncy.” Laura vaguely remembered seeing someone of that description working behind the counter the last time she’d been there. “If you see her you should say hi.”

“Yeah, I will.”

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Laura attempted to keep all her papers in order as she rode the elevator up to her apartment. Struggling to get her keys from her pocket while not dropping the stack of papers, Laura found herself running headfirst into Carmilla.

Notes and photocopies spilled from Laura’s arms, falling to the hallway floor in a messy heap. All that time spent organizing and analyzing: gone.

Carmilla continued towards the elevator. “What the hell?!” Laura shouted after her.

“Sorry, cutie!” Carmilla called over her shoulder, “Wish I could help but I’ve got to run.” She turned the corner just as Laura let out a cry of aggravation.

Bending down, Laura scooped up her files into as neat a pile as she could manage before pulling her keys from her pocket and jamming them into her door. All the while muttering to herself. She practically threw the papers into a corner of the couch before plopping down next to them. Her home phone beeped.

Laura reluctantly got to her feet and walked across the apartment to the small red phone with a blinking green light. She looked at the answering machine. Two messages. She clicked the button to listen.

The first was from her dad. “Hey kiddo, just wanted to check in and see how your day was. You’re probably still at work. Don’t forget to give me a call tomorrow, alright? Love you, kay, bye.” _Click._

The second was from Danny. “Hey Laura, I tried calling your cell but it went straight to voicemail. Anyways, I’m really sorry but I have to cancel tonight. I got roped into grading papers again. You know how Spielsberg is. We’re still on for tomorrow though, right? Give me a call. See ya.” _Click._

Laura slunk back to the couch and pulled out her phone. It was almost fulling charged, so Danny must have tried to call her while she was on the subway.

**Laura [6:04] –** _You want to come over a bit early and grab dinner?_

**Lafontaine [6:06] –** _Thought you were going out with Danny_

**Laura [6:07] –** _Yeah she had to grade papers_

**Lafontaine [6:09] –** _Sure I can drop out early. What time?_

**Laura [6:09] –** _Whenever_

**Lafontaine [6:10] –** _7?_

**Laura [6:10] -** _Perfect_

Laura spent the remainder of the hour watering her plants and attempting to re-organize some of her files. Thankfully, they hadn’t gotten too mixed up. But, Laura reasoned to herself, it was still rude that Carmilla hadn’t even offered to help.

Lafontaine arrived at around 7:30 and the two devoured some left over Chinese. Laura talked about work and Lafontaine complained about Perry. Both avoided the topic that they knew was really bothering Laura. By nine, the two were out the door.

Lafontaine had insisted on taking Laura to their favorite bar; which was coincidentally only a few blocks from Laura’s apartment on Keenan Ave. Laura recognized it as the landmark that had guided her home. The knot in her stomach tightened. The Shunned House was a quiet bar during the week, but on the weekends patrons were practically spilling out the door. Inside, colorful lights flashed around an impromptu dance floor as a DJ played the latest tracks from the corner. The whole place smelt of booze and B.O.. Laura and Lafontaine elbowed their way to the bar and took a seat.

“Well, well. What can I get you, cupcake?” Laura nearly fell off her stool. Behind the bar stood Carmilla in all her smirking glory. Her hair was pulled back in messy bun and her sleeveless shirt showed off her muscles and, as Laura noticed, tattoos on either shoulder. Laura couldn’t quite make them out in the dim lighting.

“I…I’ll have a vodka cranberry.” Laura faltered.

Carmilla turned to Laf, “And for the bio nerd?”

“Tom Collins.”

Carmilla winked at Laura before turning around and preparing their drinks. Laura leaned over to whisper to Laf. “You know her?”

Lafontaine shrugged. “Not really. I got really drunk here last spring during the whole Perry fiasco and sort of started to ramble on about specimens and stuff.” Laf noticed Laura staring at Carmilla’s back. “Why? Do _you_ know her?”

Laura shook her head, not breaking her gaze. “Yes. No. Sort of? She’s my neighbor. The really noisy one with the bass.”

“The one who’s always getting laid?” Laura gave them a look. “What? I’m not the one staring at her ass.”

“I’m not…I wasn’t…” Laura stuttered, hoping that the lighting would cover up her blush. Carmilla turned back around, drinks in hand.

“Anything else I can get for you?” She was looking at Laura who glared back.

“Nah, I think we’re good.” Laf interjected, handing their credit card to Carmilla. “Could you just keep the tab open?”

“Sure thing.”

Carmilla stalked off to deal with other customers as Laf turned back to Laura. “What was that about?”

“What?”

“The insanely ridiculous amount of tension?”

“It’s just…” Laura started, looking for some reasonable explanation as to why Carmilla bothered her so much, “she’s infuriating. I told you how her cat destroyed my garden.”

“Yeah, but didn’t she pay for it?”

“Well,” Laura hesitated, “yeah, but that’s not the point. She’s loud and rude and self-absorbed and just today she almost knocked me over and didn’t even help to pick up my stuff!”

Laf took a sip of their drink, “You sure you’re not just taking out your frustration on a conveniently annoying neighbor?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What’s going on with you and Danny, L? And don’t say nothing ‘cause I am very familiar with the smell of your bullshit.” Laf said, matter-of-factly.

“There’s….it’s….” Laura sighed, “she’s just being really overprotective lately.”

“So? She’s being Danny.” Laf pointed out.

“More like my dad. She spent half our dinner last week chastising me for walking home.”

“And you’re surprised by that?” Laf took another drink. “Dude, she’s been like that since college. Don’t you remember her insisting on walking you back to your dorm after that night class you had together?”

“Yeah, but…I just thought that was part of the flirting.” Laura finished off her vodka cranberry in one go. “And she never used to be this…aggressive about it. When we were friends she didn’t demand that I call her every time I ended up alone somewhere.” Laura fell forward in frustration, her head thudding onto the bar. “Uuugh. Why do relationships have to be so complicated?”

“Sounds like you could use another drink.” A familiarly husky voice asked. “Another vodka cranberry or something a bit stronger?”

Laura looked up to see Carmilla smirking down at her. “How about a shot of ‘keep it down so I can sleep at night?’”

Carmilla’s smirk was replaced with a sneer. “Yeah, sorry we’re all out of that, but if you want I can check in the back for some earplugs.” She shot back. Laura was prepared to launch herself across the bar before Laf stopped her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Carmilla turned away.

“You see what I mean?! She’s just so….AH!” Laura thupped her head against the bar again.

“Here, try this.” Carmilla was back and had placed a bright red drink in front of Laura.

Laura looked at it as though it were poison, “What is it?”

“Delicious.” Laura sniffed at it tentatively as Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Just drink it, creampuff.”

Laura looked over at Laf who just shrugged. She took a sip. It was sweet but not overpowering and had a tartness to it as well. Cranberry juice probably. And whatever it was was strong. Overall, not bad. She took another sip.

After finishing off the mystery drink and a couple of shots, Laura decided that it was time for some dancing. Anything to forget about the drama with Danny. The two spent the next hour and a half making complete fools of themselves with one hundred strangers. The lights pumped to the beat of the music and Laura lost herself in the crowd. Hips swinging, feet jumping, hands in the arm, the songs blurring into one. And behind the bar, Carmilla’s eyes cutting through it all.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Laura woke to the sound of knocking. At first she thought that it was coming from Carmilla’s apartment and was about to roll over and try to go back to sleep, but then she realized that it was coming from the other direction. Someone was knocking on her door.

Dragging her blanket with her, Laura slumped out of bed and shuffled towards the door. The knocking continued, frantically pounding through her brain. Bleary-eyed, Laura opened the door to find Danny standing there, looking panicked.

“Laura, are you okay? I tried calling you like five times!” Danny asked in a higher pitch than normal.

“Sorry” Laura mumbled. “I was asleep. I went out with Laf last night.”

Laura’s response seemed to help Danny relax, but only a little, “It’s alright. I was just…nevermind. So, you still up for lunch together.” She smiled cautiously.

Laura flashed a thin-lipped smile back, “Yeah, definitely. Just give me a few minutes to get dressed.”

As Danny walked into the apartment she ducked down to give Laura a quick kiss on the cheek. She waited on the couch, while Laura returned to her bedroom to change.

As she waited, Danny rifled curiously through the stack of notes left on the couch from the night before. “Hey Laura, what’s with all this stuff on the couch?”

“Oh, um, that’s nothing. Just some research I was doing.” Laura’s reply was muffled by the closed door.

“Is it for an article?” Danny called back.

“No, just curiosity.” Laura came out of her room, fully dressed but still looking very tired. “There’s apparently a tent city in Sheridan Park at night, so I decided to check and see if it was organized by the city. It turns out that a lot of the homeless in Styria actually organize themselves and have these whole communities with hierarchies and rules and stuff.”

“Huh.” Danny put the paper she’d been looking at neatly back into the pile. “I’m surprised they’re still allowed to set up anything at Sheridan.”

“How come?” Laura asked, collecting her phone, keys, and wallet from around the room.

Danny shrugged. “Silas has a tendency of keeping their properties ‘clean’. And by ‘clean’ I mean devoid of anything or anyone that doesn’t fit their pretentious image.”

“Natalie mentioned something like that” said Laura.

“Yeah” Danny explained, “everyone knows that Silas isn’t exactly lower class friendly. About a year ago there were a bunch of students who starting protesting the gentrification of downtown, near the Lustig, but it only lasted a few months. The building where they were meeting caught fire or something and after that they sort of lost heart I guess.”

Laura gaped at Danny, “Oh my god that’s…that’s horrible.”

“I know. Some people online were blaming Corvae for starting the fire but no one could prove anything and eventually the rumors just stopped.”

“That’s a bit extreme though, isn’t it?” Laura asked.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re kind of intense.”

“Seriously. And no one’s tried to do anything?”

“Well look at the last time someone did something. I’ve tried talking about it in some of my classes but people are either apathetic because it doesn’t affect them or paranoid that Corvae’s gonna go all Big Brother on them.” Danny stood and walked over to where Laura still had her wallet shoved halfway into her bag. “But anyways, we should probably get going. You look like you could use some food.”

“Yeah.” Laura shook her head and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Yeah that sounds good.”

~*~*~*~*~

The August afternoon was warm and bright. The sun poured in through the leaves of Sheridan Park, pooling on the pavement. Skaters did tricks off of benches, couples canoodled on the grass, dogs pulled at their leashes towards one another, a group of children chased after bubbles twice their size. Somewhere a street performer was playing guitar. And Laura felt like she was going to die.

Her and Danny walked along, side-by-side, finishing off a pair of ice cream cones. Danny was talking about one the classes she was a TA for, while Laura paid no attention. Instead, she was focused on trying to find any sign of the tent city that popped up at night.

“Laura. Laauuraaa.” Danny waved a hand in front of Laura’s eyes, dragging her out of her thoughts.

“Sorry I was distracted.” Laura smiled unconvincingly. “What were you saying?”

“You sure you’re alright?” Asked Danny. “You’ve been zoning out all afternoon and you’ve barely said two words. I think that’s a new record for you.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Laura waved her hand dismissively, “I just got back really late last night and I think I still have a hang-over.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Oh.” Danny paused. “Did Laf stay over?”

“No. They had a thing early in the morning so they got a cab home.”

“Where did you guys go anyways?” Danny asked.

“The Shunned House. You know the one a couple blocks from my apartment.”

“Oh yeah! I’ve been there a few times with Laf and Perry. It’s alright. A little too Lovecraft-meets-heavy-metal for my taste, though.” Danny perked up. “Maybe sometime I can take you to the Eagle and Child. It’s this little British pub that’s like a hundred years old. Totally your style. And it’s by my place so maybe afterwards you could just stay over.”

“Why?” snapped Laura. “Cause you wouldn’t trust me to get home by myself?”

Danny stopped. “No! I just thought that maybe you might want to spend some time with me. Weren’t you just talking about how you missed all those days in college where we could just hang out in each other’s dorms eating popcorn and ice cream?”

Laura stopped beside Danny, “I’m sorry. I just thought…I was being stupid. Of course I want to hang out with you. It’s just…sometimes it’s frustrating getting my hopes up for something and then having it not work out.”

“Is...is that what this is about?” Danny’s voice was getting louder. “You’re mad at me for having to cancel last night? I’m sorry, but I told you I had papers to grade. I’ve worked really hard to get into grad school and I’m not exactly going to stop now.”

“Yeah, I know.” Laura shot back. “It still sucks though. I just thought that maybe, moving here, that I’d get to see you a bit more. That things would be different.”

Danny stepped closer. “Well, they could be. If you wanted you could come over sometime and keep me company while I work. I’ll even pick you up.”

Laura looked at the ground and sighed. “I could get a cab. Or the subway. I wouldn’t want for you to go out of your way.”

“No, it’s no problem. You’re not that far.”

“Then why would it be such an issue for me to just take the subway?” Laura turned her eyes, burning, back up towards Danny.

Danny paused. “Laura…can we please not do this now? I trust you. It’s everyone else that I don’t trust.”

“Yeah. I know.” Laura continued walking, letting some of the tension fade away as the distance between them increased. Danny waited a moment before catching up.

An awkward silence stretched between them until Danny spoke, her voice soft. “So...you want to catch a movie downtown or there’s the arcade on 2nd if you’re up for a hike.”

“I’m actually kind of tired.” Laura lied. “This hang-over is wiping me out. Plus I’m still not really getting any sleep.” Okay, half-lied.

“Yikes. Your neighbor still having 2am rock concerts?”

“Yeah. Thankfully, she hasn’t had sex in like a week though so I don’t have to deal with that.”

Danny laughed. “From what you’ve told me, that’s a bit of a dry spell for her, isn’t it?”

“I just hope it lasts.”

As they continued through the park, the crowds began to thin out and the sounds of someone playing Nirvana’s “You Know You’re Right” drifted through the air.

“So,” Danny started, “have you talked to Carmilla since that whole garden thing last week?”

Laura groaned. “Sadly, yes. Before her cat went all Godzilla on my garden I’d never even seen her. But now I keep running into her on the elevator, near the mailboxes, in the laundry room. It’s like she’s stalking me or something. And she’s always super rude. Like the other day, she was getting into the elevator and I was carrying a ton of groceries and she didn’t even hold the door for me. She just stood and watched as the doors closed and was all ‘sorry, cutie.’ It’s infuriating!”

“Sounds like it.”

“And last night, guess who the bartender at the Shunned House was.”

“Carmilla?”

“Car-freaking-milla! It’s like no matter where I go I can’t shake her. I can’t even-“ Laura stopped short as she caught sight of a familiar musician playing on a bench. “Are you freaking serious?!”

“Wait.” Danny stopped beside her and looked at the woman playing guitar. “Is that her?”

“Yup.” Laura didn’t know why but the sight of Carmilla had the insistent effect of sending her over the edge. All the frustration, the stress, hell, even the hang-over focused in on Laura’s selfish, rude, obnoxious neighbor. It wasn’t as if she was doing anything aside from sitting on a park bench ignoring the world and playing her guitar. But something about the way she was draped across the bench, hair tied back and sunglasses on, made Laura’s blood boil. She stormed over.

“Okay, what the hell?” Laura cried.

“Um, excuse me?” Carmilla stopped playing and looked up. “Oh it’s you…”

“Are you like following me or something?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. If you haven’t noticed I’ve been here a while.” She gestured towards a pile of coins and bills sitting in her open case. “And even if I did want to find you it’s not like I don’t already know where you live.”

“Laura,” she felt Danny’s hand on her shoulder, “we should probably go.”

“I’d listen to Xena, cupcake.” Carmilla said, turning back to her guitar.

“GAAH!” Laura pushed Danny’s hand from her shoulder and stepped forward. “Are you so damaged that you can’t interact with another human being without acting like a raging…bad person?!”

Carmilla spun around and stood facing Laura. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I’m not exactly the hostile one in this situation." Carmilla stepped forward. “Do you really think that getting mad at me for not playing along with your perfect little city sitcom world is going to do a lick of actual good? You’re a child and you understand nothing. Not about life. Not about this city. And certainly not about what it takes to live in a world where-“

“Hey, back off alright!” Danny stepped in front of Laura, cutting Carmilla off.

Laura felt something inside her snap as she spun around. “DANNY I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!” Leaving Carmilla and Danny behind, Laura stormed off back to her apartment. She didn’t look back to see if Danny was following her. Laura knew she was, but she didn’t care. She just kept walking, hoping that Danny would get the hint. When she got to the front door of her building she looked back. There was no Danny. Laura couldn’t even bring herself to be disappointed. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night, Laura sat in bed, scrolling through her text messages. She’d taken a shower and cooled off a bit. But she still wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk about what had happened with anyone. For that matter, she wasn’t in the mood to talk about _anything_ with anyone. She continued looking through her phone.

**Danny [1:50] –** _Hey. Figured you need some space and just wanted to make sure you got home okay._

**Laura [2:36] –** _im fine_

~

**Lafontaine [5:57] –** _yo, Danny just texted me. Everything alright?_

**Laura [6:00] –** _I don’t want to talk about it_

**Lafontaine [6:04] –** _you’re gonna have to talk about it sometime, L_

**Laura [6:07] –** _yeah but not right now_

~

**Dad [7:00] –** _Hey kiddo. Haven’t heard from you in a few days and wanted to check in. Give me a call. Miss you._

**Laura [7:05] –** _Hey dad. Sorry I haven’t called. Been swamped with work all week. I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Miss you too._

**Dad [7:06] –** _Looking forward to it. By the way, nice job on that article you sent me. Proud of you._

**Laura [7:07] –** _Thanks dad <3_

**Dad [7:07] –** _Good night. I love you._

**Laura [7:08] –** _Love you too. Night._

Laura grabbed her laptop and flipped it open. She made a couple notes on some article ideas, stared at a blank document for a few minutes, and ended up just scrolling through Tumblr and then Twitter and back to Tumblr. She tried watching something on Netflix but nothing caught her interest. Eventually, Laura got up and began pacing. It was still too early for her even think about sleeping and she was apparently still too upset to do anything else.

Laura flopped back on the bed with a groan. Maybe she should just try sleeping. But after fifteen minutes of tossing and turning she gave up on that too. She looked at the clock. 10:34. “This is impossible.” She pulled her laptop back over to her.

_Google Search: techniques for better sleep_

Laura looked at the list of websites and articles. Most of them gave advice on life style changes and daily habits that would help you sleep better. Not exactly what she was going for.

_Google Search: help falling asleep_

She clicked on the second link, an article from the Huffington Post. “15 Science-Backed Ways to Fall Asleep Faster.”

  1.        Try to force yourself to stay awake
  2.        Get up and do something for 10 minutes
  3.        Hide your clock
  4.        Cool your room
  5.        Take a warm shower before bed
  6.        Wear socks to bed
  7.        Immerse your face in very cold water for 30 seconds
  8.        Use the “4-7-8” method
  9.        Scent your bedroom with lavender
  10.    Picture your favorite place
  11.    Listen to music
  12.    Eat dinner by candlelight
  13.    Blow bubbles
  14.    Practice progressive relaxation
  15.    Give yourself acupressure



Laura mentally noted a few keys points. Relaxation, mental imagery, breathing, lavender. She backspaced and clicked on another Huffington Post article. “9 Ways to Fall Asleep Faster (Without Counting Sheep).”

  1.        Do a 60-minute wind-down
  2.        Take a warm bath or shower
  3.        Put on socks
  4.        Try the 4-7-8 exercise
  5.        Don’t get in bed until you actually feel sleepy
  6.        Practice calming techniques during the day, not at night
  7.        Get out of bed
  8.        Hide your clock
  9.        Vent on paper



A lot of the same techniques, but Laura noticed that the second article had a particular emphasis on avoiding just lying there trying to focus yourself to sleep. So, relaxation, meditation, and breathing somewhere other than her bed. Laura hopped up and walked to the far side of her bedroom and threw open the doors of the balcony.

Her garden hadn’t changed all that much from when she’d first set up a few weeks back. Of course there was the whole incident with Carmilla’s cat, but Laura had managed to replace most of what she had lost. Plus she’d picked up a few new herbs and some more perennials. She’d even set up a barricade along the bars separating her balcony from her neighbor’s for the purpose of trying to keep the cat out. It didn’t stop him of course, but at least it made it harder. Laura was not going to make it easy for him to be a complete nuisance.

Taking her yoga mat, Laura laid it out on the small patch of floor not covered in plants and sat down on it. She shifted a little, trying to find a comfortable position. She’d done yoga before so it wasn’t as though she was unfamiliar with meditating. It was just difficult for her to focus her mind when it was so intent on doing just about anything else. At least with regular yoga the movements and positions kept her body occupied enough that she could trick her mind into focusing. Laura stilled. Well, why couldn’t she just do yoga? She had the mat out anyways and it wasn’t as though she had anything better to do. And it was relaxing and helped calm her breathing and all that other stuff that was supposed to help her sleep. She’d just do some basic stuff. Nothing too fancy.

Laura laid back and pushed herself up into a bridge. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Ten counts. Release. She stood up and held the mountain pose, hands high above her head. Breathe 8-9-10. She brought her hands down and her left leg up. Hold 8-9-10. Then her other leg. Hold 8-9-10. Laura bent over into downward-facing dog. Hold 8-9-

“Hey.”

Laura nearly toppled over as she heard the familiar sultry voice from behind her. Gracelessly collecting herself, Laura spun around. Carmilla was still wearing the band shirt and ripped jeans from earlier. Laura tried not to stare. “Hey? What are you doing out here?”

“Well,” Carmilla drawled, “I was just getting some fresh air when I was greeted by your sun salutation.”

Laura felt her face burn. “That wasn’t…look I’m not really in the mood so if you could just go away that would be great.” She went to turn away.

“Fine I’ll leave you be.” Carmilla shrugged. “But first, indulge me. What’s with the late night yoga?”

Laura hesitated. “I can’t sleep.”

“Huh.” Carmilla stared at her for what felt like a small eternity. “You know I may have something that could help.”

“Oh yeah?” Laura asked, rolling her eyes, “And why would you help me?”

“Because if you burn up from sleep deprivation I’m worried you might actually bite my head off.” Carmilla breathed in deep. “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” She walked back through the still open doors and into her apartment.

After waiting for five minutes and deciding that maybe she was finally getting tired, Laura headed back inside, convinced that Carmilla had abandoned her. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and changed into a fresh set of PJs. As she was climbing into bed she noticed something on the railing between the balconies. Laura went back outside and looked around. Carmilla was nowhere to be found. Instead there was a large mug filled with hot liquid sitting atop a note which read:

_Sleep Potion_

_1) Boil water_

_2) Squeeze ½ lemon_

_3) Add spoon full of honey_

_4) Stir_

_5) Sleep_

Laura read the note and looked back at the mug of liquid. It seemed alright. She took a sip. The lemon-honey mixture went down smoothly, instantly warming her insides. Laura looked around again, trying to catch a glimpse of Carmilla through the window but it was no use. She was gone. Deciding to just give the mug back in the morning, Laura went back inside and curled into bed. She finished off the last dregs of the “potion” before finally drifting off to a restful sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife._

The opening line of Neil Gaiman’s _The Graveyard Book_ wrapped around an illustration of a twisted, creeping hand. Laura smiled at the familiar image before putting the book back on the display and continuing on. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular really. She’d just noticed the seemingly little bookshop on a corner while out for walk and had decided to check it out. It was cozy with brick walls, low ceilings, and winding shelves. Displays were spread throughout the store, advertising the most popular books of each genre. Older, used books were stacked on shelves and, where there wasn’t enough room, were piled high on the floor. Cushy chairs and couches were crammed into corners while a handful of circular pub tables were pushed against empty walls. The whole place seemed to go on forever. The store was a labyrinth of little rooms leading further in and back around. No matter how deep Laura went there was always just one more room to explore. So it was no real surprise that on her way to find the Gardening section Laura accidentally ended up wandering shelves filled with books on philosophy and theology.

“You know,” said a husky voice behind Laura, “if you’re interested in philosophy I could make a few suggestions.” Laura turned to see Carmilla leaning up against one of the shelves, watching her.

“You want to tell me again how you’re definitely _not_ following me?” Laura asked.

“If anything you’re following me.” Carmilla tapped a plastic nametag. “I work here.”

“Seriously?!”

“Seriously.” Laura groaned and slumped against the shelf, folding her arms. Carmilla continued, “So, do you need help with anything or are you just going to mope around and pretend like you’re not following me?”

“I’m not mopping.” Laura started defensively and then paused. As she looked at Carmilla her arms dropped to her side. “I’m sorry.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “For what? You can mope where ever, I really don’t care. Besides, no one comes over here anyways.”

“No, I meant for yesterday.” Laura was finding it hard to meet Carmilla’s gaze. “I was sort of…horrible to you.”

Carmilla flashed a smile so fast Laura was barely convinced she saw anything. “Don’t worry about it. Shit happens.”

“I wasn’t even mad at _you_ though. I was just mad. Probably because my girlfriend’s been super over-protective lately and keeps canceling on me. I thought moving here that things would be different but they’re just worse and no one trusts me.” Laura sank to the floor. “And then you were just there and loud and annoying and it just drove me crazy and I lost it. So I yelled and made a scene and I’m sorry.” She looked up at Carmilla. “No one deserves to be treated like that.”

There is was again. The flash of the smile as Carmilla sat down across from Laura. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but it sounds like you’ve got some shit to work out with this girlfriend of yours.”

“Yeah.”

“You should probably talk to her before your little bottle of emotions ends up tossing me over the balcony for interrupting your midnight yoga again."

Laura laughed softly, “Thanks for that, by the way. The tea stuff I mean, not the interrupting.”

“Did it help?” Laura nodded in response. “Good. Maybe now you can actually get that sleep you keep talking about.”

“Or you could just keep it down after 10 o’clock.”

“Not a chance.” Laura glanced up to see that Carmilla was smiling. She stood, offering Laura her hand. “Come on. I’ve got to get back to work and I doubt you actually want to sit there all day.”

“Thanks.” Laura said, taking the offered hand.

“I’ll see ya around.” Carmilla turned to leave.

“Wait!” Laura called after her, though she wasn’t exactly sure why. “Um…what were those recommendations you were talking about?”

Carmilla turned back around, smirking. “Really?” Laura nodded. “Well, personally I’d have to recommend Camus. Most people would say Nietzsche or Kant but Camus…so much better. My personal favorite by him is…” she trailed off, looking at the shelves, “…this one: _L'Homme révolté.”_ She handed the book to Laura. _“_ His _Le Mythe de Sisyphe_ is pretty good too but I think that if you want to contemplate suicide that much you should just go for the jugular and read Goethe’s _Die Leiden des jungen Werthers."_

“Wow. Um, thanks.“ Laura inspected the book in her hand. “So you, um, like philosophy?“

“I guess you could say it’s kind of my thing. At least I studied it for a bit in uni. Anyways, good luck on that whole girlfriend thing.“ Carmilla turned to leave again.

“Yeah. Thanks...again.“ Laura called after her. “So I guess I’ll see you around?“

Carmilla smirked over her shoulder, “Definitely.“

Laura waited for Carmilla to disappear into the maze of shelves before finding her way back to the front register and paying in cash for the book Carmilla had handed her. A bell chimed as she left the shop and returned home, smiling. She’d call Danny in a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far then congratulations, you are the winner of my affections!
> 
> The comments and kudos I've gotten on my other two stories have been fantastic and I hope you guys like this one just as much.
> 
> As this fic is still a WIP and it comes from humble tumblr beginnings, if anyone has any "Imagine Your OTP" prompts that they would like to see become part of this world just let me know and, if I can, I'll try and work them in.
> 
> I'll try and update at the end of every week but sadly life is unpredictable and the muse is a fickle creature.


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